Tumor-stroma Ratio is An Independent Prognostic Factor of Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract

Background and objective The different expression of tumor-stroma ratio (TSR) have been proved to be a new and reliable independent prognostic factor in some solid tumors.The aim of the study is to test the different expression of TSR and its prognostic significance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods A total of 73 patients who underwent surgery resection for NSCLC were included in this study. TSR was assessed visually on the hematoxylin-stained tissue sections of surgical specimens. Patients with more than 50% intratumor stroma were quantified as the stroma-rich group and those with less than 50% as the stroma-poor group. Results In 73 cases of tissue samples, 46 cases were included in the stroma-poor group, while 27 cases in stroma-rich group. The different expression of TSR in NSCLC tissue was not correlated with gender, age and pathological type, lymph node metastasis, tumor size, pTNM staging, and so on. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the different expression of TSR was significantly correlated with survival days (P=0.014). Cox regression analysis showed that not only different expression of TSR is a independent prognostic factor for NSCLC (HR=1.832, 95%CI: 1.017-3.299), but also pTNM staging (HR=1.953, 95%CI: 1.284-2.970). Conclusion The different expression of TSR might be an independent prognostic factor in NSCLC.

DOI: 10.3779/j.issn.1009-3419.2013.04.04